Self-threading take-up spool device

ABSTRACT

A take-up device for a paper web or the like having an inner rotating hub and an outer, initially stationary spool, with the hub and spool carrying vanes between which an advancing paper web may be gripped so that the spool then begins rotation to wind up the web on the outer ends of its vanes. Indexing mechanism for the outer spool is provided so that a web guide directs the advancing paper web between two of the vanes of the initially stationary outer spool, and the indexing mechanism includes a spring for returning the outer spool to this non-blocking position for the web when a completed roll of web is removed from the spool.

Unite States Patent 1 Lagergren 51 Sept. 24, 1974 I 1 SI'ILF IHREADING 'IAKIMJP SI'OOI.

DEVICE [75] Inventor: Richard Edward Lagergren,

Rochester, Minn.

22 Filed: May 4,1973

21 Appl. No.: 357,428

[52] US. Cl. 242/74, 242/76 [51] Int. Cl B65h 75/28 [58] Field of Search 242/67.3 R, 74, 74.1, 76

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,390,894 12/1945 Morse 242/74.1 2,487,479 11/1949 Roehrl 242/7l.1

3,265,318 8/1966 Ellmore 242/74 3,378,212 4/1968 Johnson 242/74 3,395,870 8/1968 Klinger 242/76 X 3,414,206 12/1968 Ramig 242/74 X 3,521,829 7/1970 Wongcrin 242/74 3,640,483 2/1972 Beck 242/74.l 3,698,654 10/1972 Rosenburgh 242/74 Primary ExaminerJohn W. Huckert Assistant Examiner-Edward J. McCarthy Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Keith T. Bleuer [5 7 ABSTRACT A take-up device for a paper web or the like having an inner rotating hub and an outer, initially stationary spool, with the hub and spool carrying vanes between which an advancing paper web may be gripped so that the spool then begins rotation to wind up the web on the outer ends of its vanes. Indexing mechanism for the outer spool is provided so that a web guide directs the advancing paper web between two of the vanes of the initially stationary outer spool, and the indexing mechanism includes a spring for returning the outer spool to this non-blocking position for the web when a completed roll of web is removed from the spool.

10 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures F 41924 PAIENIED 2 sum w 2 3.8379586 SELF-THREADING TAKE-UP SPOOL DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to winding devices for paper webs.

Winding devices for webs have previously been suggested in which the leading end of a web is inserted into a groove of the winding device, with a relatively rotatable part of the device subsequently gripping the forward end of the web between it and the grooved part of the device so that winding action may then proceed. Such devices are, for example, disclosed in the US. Patents to Morse No. 2,390,894 and Winkel No. 3,201,059. Due to the constructions of such prior devices, it has been necessary for the leading end of the web to be inserted through a groove manually, and operating time is thus lost for this manual operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved winding device which is self-threading so that the leading end of a web, such as of paper, may simply be thrust into the device; and the forward end of the web will be gripped so that winding action can begin, without a cessation for manually fastening the leading end of the web with respect to the device.

More particularly, it is an object of the invention to provide two relatively rotatable members in such a device, the outer rotatable member or spool being initially stationary and the inner rotatable member or hub being constantly driven, with vanes that are relatively far apart being located on the inner hub and outer spool, so that a web may be thrust between spaced vanes on the outer spool and will be gripped between one of these vanes and a vane on the inner hub to fasten the leading end of the web with respect to the winding device.

It is another object of the invention to provide means for indexing the outer spool so that the vanes on the outer spool are in position such that they will not block an advancing leading end of a web as the web is moved into the winding device.

In a preferred form, the winding device includes an inner hub and an outer spool each carrying spaced vanes. These vanes are nearly radially disposed on the hub and spool, are quite widely spaced, and are disposed on chords that are somewhat spaced from the centers of the spool and hub. Therefore, a paper web may be directed from the side over a vane of the spool to be gripped between it and a vane on the hub for thereby completing a self-threading action of the web and initiating rotation of the spool for winding the web on the vanes of the spool. A friction brake and indexing device is provided for the outer spool which allows the spool to rotate indefinitely in the direction of rotation of the hub but which rotates the spool backwardly for a small angle after a completed web roll has been removed from the spool, so that the vanes of the spool again will be in a non-blocking position with respect to the leading end of another length of web that is to be wound up.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the winding device or take-up reel of the invention and including a constantly rotatable inner vaned-hub and an outer, initially stationary vaned spool;

FIG. la is a perspective view of the vaned hub;

FIG. 2 is a plan, partly sectioned view of the winding device;

FIG. 2a is a face view of the outer spool; and

FIG. 2b is a side elevational view of the spool, with portions of the spool being shown in section for clarity of illustration.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings, the takeup reel illustrated therein may be seen to comprise a hub 10 which is fixed on a shaft 12. The shaft 12 is rotatably mounted in a bearing 14 which is fixed within a stationary support 16. A spool 18 is fixed with respect to an intermediate member. 19, and the member 19 is rotatably disposed on the bearing 14 so as to rotatably mount the spool 18. The hub 10 and the spool 18 respectively have surfaces 100 and 18a that are in near-alignment, with the surface 10a being slightly depressed with respect to the surface 18a.

The shaft 12 is driven from a pulley 20 through a slip clutch 22. The clutch 22 comprises a hub 24 keyed with respect to the shaft 12 and a disk 26 of friction material disposed between the pulley 20 and the hub 24. A spring 28 disposed between the hub 24 and a retainer washer 30, which is fixed on the end of shaft 12, keeps a predetermined pressure on the friction disk 26.

The hub 10 is provided with four vanes 32, and the spool 18 is provided with six vanes 36. Each of the vanes 32 has a rounded end 32a and has an inwardly extending slot 32b forming spaced lug portions 32c and 32d. The vanes 32 provide outer edges 32e, 32f and 32g in addition to the outer edges or ends 320. The vanes 32 are approximately radially disposed and, in particular, are disposed on chords 32h; and, when a particular vane 32 is in a horizontal position as seen in FIG. 1, for example, the chord 32b is located vertically above or below the center of the hub 10 and shaft 12. Each of the vanes 36 has rounded ends 36a and 36b and has inwardly extending, relatively narrow projections 36c adapted to enter and to pass through the slots 32b of the vanes 32. The vanes 36 provide inner edges 36d, 36e, 36f and 36g, in addition to the inner edges or ends 36b; and these edges pass in close proximity to the edges 32a, 32e, 32f and 32g as the projections 36b pass through the slots 32b. The vanes 36 are also approximately radial and are disposed on chords 36h spaced with respect to the center of the shaft 12.

The intermediate member 19 is provided on its outer edge with teeth 19a and arc-spaced cam portions 19b, and a pawl 40 is adapted to engage with the teeth 19a and to ride on the surface portions 1%. The pawl 40 is disposed on one end of a resilient strip 42 which has its other end fixed.

The intermediate member 19 fixed to the spool 18 is effective on a friction device 44. The device 44 comprises collars 45 and 46 having an interdigitated connection 47 therebetween allowing relative axial movement between the collars 45 and 46 but preventing any relative motion between the collars. A friction disk 48 is disposed between the collar 45 and the intermediate member 19, and a spring 50 is disposed between collars 45 and 46. A snap ring 51 holds the collar 46 from axially movement with respect to the intermediate member 19, and spring 47 thus applies a pre-determined pressure on the friction disk 48.

The collar 46 has a peripheral slot 46a formed therein, and a stud 52 extends into the slot 46a and is anchored with respect to the stationary support 16. The collar 46 is formed with a radially extending arm 54, and a spring 55 extends between the arm 54 and a fixed pin 56.

A paper web 57 derived from any suitable source is adapted to be wound on the spool 18. The web 57 is fed toward the spool 18 by means of a pressure roll 58 having a nip with a drive roll 60 between which the web 57 passes. The web 57 passes through a web guide 62 to the spool 18. The guide 62 is rotatably mounted at 62a and has a relatively elongate lower portion 62b and a relatively short upper portion 620 between which the web 57 passes. A spring 63 is provided for yieldably holding the guide 62 to the limit of its movement in the clockwise direction as seen in FIG. 1 in which the guide 62 is illustrated in this figure.

The pulley 20 and the feed roll 60 are driven from a common drive, such as pulleys 64 and 65 rotatively driven from any suitable prime mover (not shown). The pulley 64 drives the pulley 20 by means of a belt 66, and the pulley 65 drives a belt 68 and a pulley 69. The drive roll 60 is fixed with respect to the pulley 69 and is driven thereby.

The spring 63 is anchored with respect to the guide 62 by means of a pin 70. An electric switch 74 is located above and to the side of the guide 62 and has an actuating arm 76 located above the pin 70. The pin 70 is adapted to strike the arm 76 as the guide 62 swings.

In operation, the pulleys 64 and 65 are driven, and the web 57 is propelled by means of the rolls 58 and 60 through the guide 62, and particularly between its parts 62b and 62c, toward the spool 18 and hub 10. The guide 62 is then in its position as illustrated in FIG. 1. The pulley 20 is driven from the pulley 64 through the belt 66, and the hub is driven (in direction A) through the shaft 12 and clutch 22 from the indexed to its position as illustrated in FIG. 1 in which two particular vanes 36x and 36y are located adjacent to the end of the guide 62, in particular with the vane 36y being located at about the same level as the end of the guide 62. The web 57 is directed upwardly to a slight extent by the guide 62 as illustrated in FIG. 1, and the web 57 in being propelled forwardly lies over the top of the vane 36y; and one of the vanes 32 moves down the top of the web 57 so that the end of the web 57 is gripped between the vane 36y and the vane 32 approaching the vane 36y. The end of the web 57 is, in particular, gripped between the arm portions 320 and 32d of this particular vane 32 as the arm portions 320 and 32d move to pass around the projection 360 of the particular vane 36y. This passage would actually take place if the end of the web 57 were not lying on top of the vane 36y. The web 57 at this time has an edge thereof substantially in contact with the surface 18a of the spool 18; and, since the surface 10a is depressed slightly with respect to the surface 18a, no binding or impeding action on the web 57 in its forward motion takes place with respect to the surface 10a.

The end of the web 57 forms a driving connection between this vane 32 and the vane 36y, and the spool 18 thereupon is driven and begins rotation. The intermediate member 19 rotates along with the spool 18 and puts a drive torque on the collars 45 and 46 through the friction drive 44. The collar 46 has only a limited rotation determined by the arm 54 which strikes the stud 52 after about 45 of rotation of the collars 45 and 46. This rotation of the collars 45 and 46 is against the action of the spring 55 which elongates at this time. After the arm 54 has struck the stud 52, the collars 45 and 46 are stationary, and the friction device 44 slips.

The hub 10 and spool 18 continue rotation as the web 57 is fed by the rolls 58 and 60 through the guide 62, and the web 57 rolls up on the outer ends 36a of the vanes 36. The web 57 is moved by the rolls 58 and 60 initially into the vanes 32 and 36 at about the same speed as the peripheral speed of the vane ends 36a; however, as the roll of web 57 on the outer ends 36a of the vanes 36 increases in diameter, the peripheral speed of the web in roll form tends to be greater than the longitudinal speed of the web 57 as propelled by the rolls 58 and 60; so therefore, at this time, the clutch 22 slips. The arm 54, during this winding action, remains in contact with the stud 52, with the spring 55 in an elongated condition.

As the roll of web 57 winds up on the outer ends 36a of the vanes 36, the end of the guide 62 contacts the roll of web on the spool 18 and rotates the guide 62 downwardly as seen in FIG. 1, elongating the return spring 63. Eventually, when the guide 62 has been rotated at a sufficient angle corresponding to a large diameter of web 57 on the spool 18, the guide 62 will have rotated sufficiently so that its pin 70 strikes the arm 76 of the switch 74. Shortly thereafter, the roll of web 57 on the spool 18 will have increased sufficiently so that the switch 74 is actuated. This indicates that the roll of web 57 on the spool 18 has reached such a diameter that it should be removed from the spool 18, and the switch 74 may be used for shutting off the machine and in particular de-conditioning the primemover for the pulleys 64 and 65 from operation. When the hub 10 and spool 18 are stationary, the roll of web 57 on the outer ends of the vanes 36 may be simply removed from the spool 18 by drawing the roll of web upwardly off of the vanes 36, away from the surface 18a of the spool 18. The vane 36y and the vane 32 cooperating with the vane 36y for gripping the leading end of the web 57 have no particular impeding action with respect to this withdrawal of the completed roll, since the arms 32c and 32d of this vane 32 have been prevented by the leading end of the web 57 from embracing the projection 36c of the vane 36y.

With no connection between the vane 36y and the cooperating vane 32, the spool 18 again is free with respect to the hub 10, and the spring 55 at this time has the action of rotating the spool 18 slightly in the reverse direction. The spring 55 is effective through the collars 45 and 46 and through the friction device 44. This rotation continues until the pawl 40 strikes a tooth 19a of the member 19 and prevents any additional reverse rotation of the spool 18. The teeth 19a are so located with respect to the vanes 36 that the vanes 36 will then be in their positions as illustrated in FIG. 1, with one of the vanes, such as the vane 36y, being located at about the same level as the end of the guide 62 so that a succeeding length of Web 57 is directed over the top of a vane 36, such as the vane 36y.

When the prime mover is again put into operation, the succeeding length of web 57 feeds over the top of a stationary vane 36 so that the leading end of the web 57 is again gripped between this particular vane 36 and a vane 32 that is at the time moving toward this vane 36. The winding action then takes place again for forming another roll of web on the spool 18, exactly in the manner just described.

Advantageously, the winding device including the vaned hub and vaned spool 18 is self-threading, and it is only necessary for the web 57 to be thrust inwardly, generally toward the center of the shaft 12, in order to cause the leading end of the web 57 to be gripped by the device so that subsequent winding may take place. This self-threading action is due to the fact that the vanes 36 are quite widely spaced on the spool 18, and the vanes 32 are quite widely spaced on the hub 10, with both vanes 32 and 36 being relatively narrow and extending generally in the radial direction. Considering both of the hub 10 and spool 18, the thicknesses of the vanes on cylinders of the greatest diameters passing through the full widths of the vanes take up only 1/10 to l/12 of the circumferences of these cylinders. Such a cylinder 78 is shown for the spool 18 in FIG. 1 in dotted lines. The vanes 32 and 36 are disposed on the chords 32h and 36h so that, as the web winds up on the outer edges of the vanes 36, less than a right angle of bend is put into the web 57 between its gripped leading end and its first contact with the outer edge of a vane 36. For this purpose, the chords 32h and 36h slant in a direction rearwards with respect to the direction A, looking at the vanes from their inner ends to their outer ends. The curved ends 32a of the vanes 32 also maintain this angle less than a right angle. The curved ends 32a of vanes 32 and the curved ends 36a and 36b of vanes 36 also help to assure that there shall be no butt ending of the forward end of the web 57 with any of the vanes when the web 57 is fed into the vanes 36 and 32. In this connection, it will be noted that the hub 10 is unencumbered at its center; and only the vanes 32 are on the surface 10a. Occasionally, the web 57 will pass completely through the center of the hub 10, and this passage is therefore not prevented by any such central obstruction on the surface 10a. The indexing mechanism comprising the spring 55 and the pawl 40 assures that after a wound web is removed from the spool 18, sufficient rotative movement of the spool 18 occurs so that the space between adjacent vanes of the spool 18 (for example the vanes 36x and 36y) lies directly in front of the web exit end of the guide 62 defined by the end of the guide to assure that butt ending of the forward end of the web 57 does not occur on the vanes 36.

I claim:

1. A winder for a sheet material web comprising:

a hub carrying a plurality of spaced outwardly extending vanes;

means for drivingly rotating said hub; and

a rotatable spool carrying a plurality of spaced outwardly extending vanes and disposed so that, as said hub rotates, the outer edges of the vanes thereof pass in close proximity to inner edges of the vanes of said spool, whereby a web thrust between the vanes of said spool is gripped between a vane of said spool and a vane of said hub and the spool is thereby driven to wind the web on the outer ends of the vanes of said spool.

2. A winder as set forth in claim 1, the thicknesses of said vanes of said hub and spool taking up l/ 10 or less of the circumferences of the greatest diameter cylinders passing through the full widths of said vanes of said hub and spool.

3. A winder as set forth in claim 1, said inner edges of the vanes of said spool defined by inwardly extending projections on the vanes and the outer edges of the vanes of said hub being defined by a pair of outwardly extending lug portions on each of the vanes embracing said projections as said hub rotates with respect to said spool.

4. A winder as set forth in claim 1, said vanes being disposed on chords that are slanted from the inner edges to the outer edges of the vanes in a direction reverse to the direction of rotation of said hub.

5. A winder as set forth in claim 1, the outer edges of the vanes of said hub and both the inner and outer edges of the vanes of said spool being curved in cross section.

6. A winder as set forth in claim 1 and including means for driving said web between vanes of said spool and synchronized with said means for drivingly rotating said hub.

7. A winder as set forth in claim 1 and including means for rotating said spool reversely through a small angle and for indexing the spool in a pre-determined position after a roll of the web has been removed from the spool, said reverse driving and indexing means including a frictional connection between said spool and a stationary member with an element of the connection having a pre-determined limited rotation with respect to the stationary member, a spring connected to said limited rotation element and which is stressed as the spool winds the web thereon and which rotates the spool for said small angle in the reverse direction when a wound web is removed from the spool, and pawl means effective on said spool for limiting the reverse rotation of the spool to said small angle.

8. A winder as set forth in claim 1 and including means for drivingly rotating said spool through a small angle in the reverse direction and for indexing the spool at the end of this small angular rotation when a wound web roll is removed from said spool whereby to position said vanes of said spool at pre-determined positions.

9. A winder as set forth in claim 8 and including a guide for directing the web inwardly of said spool and hub and positioned to direct the web between adjacent ones of said spool vanes when the spool is in one of its indexed positions.

10. A winder as set forth in claim 9, said guide being swingably mounted and being adapted to be contacted by the web as wound on said spool vanes so as to swing the guide, and a control member actuated by said guide as the guide is swung with an increasing diameter of 

1. A winder for a sheet material web comprising: a hub carrying a plurality of spaced outwardly extending vanes; means for drivingly rotating said hub; and a rotatable spool carrying a plurality of spaced outwardly extending vanes and disposed so that, as said hub rotates, the outer edges of the vanes thereof pass in close proximity to inner edges of the vanes of said spool, whereby a web thrust between the vanes of said spool is gripped between a vane of said spool and a vane of said hub and the spool is thereby driven to wind the web on the outer ends of the vanes of said spool.
 2. A winder as set forth in claim 1, the thicknesses of said vanes of said hub and spool taking up 1/10 or less of the circumferences of the greatest diameter cylinders passing through the full widths of said vanes of said hub and spool.
 3. A winder as set forth in claim 1, said inner edges of the vanes of said spool defined by inwardly extending projections on the vanes and the outer edges of the vanes of said hub being defined by a pair of outwardly extending lug portions on each of the vanes embracing said projections as said hub rotates with respect to said spool.
 4. A winder as set forth in claim 1, said vanes being disposed on chords that are slanted from the inner edges to the outer edges of the vanes in a direction reverse to the direction of rotation of said hub.
 5. A winder as set forth in claim 1, the outer edges of the vanes of said hub and both the inner and outer edges of the vanes of said spool being curved in cross section.
 6. A winder as set forth in claim 1 and including means for driving said web between vanes of said spool and synchronized with said means for drivingly rotating said hub.
 7. A winder as set forth in claim 1 and including means for rotating said spool reversely through a small angle and for indexing the spool in a pre-determined position after a roll of the web has been removed from the spool, said reverse driving and indexing means incLuding a frictional connection between said spool and a stationary member with an element of the connection having a pre-determined limited rotation with respect to the stationary member, a spring connected to said limited rotation element and which is stressed as the spool winds the web thereon and which rotates the spool for said small angle in the reverse direction when a wound web is removed from the spool, and pawl means effective on said spool for limiting the reverse rotation of the spool to said small angle.
 8. A winder as set forth in claim 1 and including means for drivingly rotating said spool through a small angle in the reverse direction and for indexing the spool at the end of this small angular rotation when a wound web roll is removed from said spool whereby to position said vanes of said spool at pre-determined positions.
 9. A winder as set forth in claim 8 and including a guide for directing the web inwardly of said spool and hub and positioned to direct the web between adjacent ones of said spool vanes when the spool is in one of its indexed positions.
 10. A winder as set forth in claim 9, said guide being swingably mounted and being adapted to be contacted by the web as wound on said spool vanes so as to swing the guide, and a control member actuated by said guide as the guide is swung with an increasing diameter of wound web on said spool. 